Means for supporting the meeting ends of railroad rails



March 7, 1939. w H. SHARP I 2,150,041

MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE MEETING ENDS OF RAILROAD RAILS Filed July 21, 1936 I l 15 y uh; 1h 13 .L I 11119.10.

5 Q 3nventor 2m V E lfL LlAM H.S/ P

I attorney I Patented Mar. 7, 1939 UNITED STATES MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE MEETING ENDS OF RAILROAD RAILS William H. Sharp, Columbus, Ohio Application July 21,

4 Claims.

This invention relates to supports for the meeting ends of railroad rails.

The joint bars of the usual forms of rail joints act largely or principally as simple beams with the load they carry applied by the rail head on the upper fishing surface of the joint bars to the ends of the two rails and with their points of support distributed at different places along the base of the rails when downward bending on the tie is applied.

In moment-taking properties an ideal rail joint and the supporting substructure should furnish the same stiffness of track as does the continuous rail at points away from the rail-joint. This condition is not fully attainable but I have devised a near approach to it by combining with a rail joint that is less stiif than the rail with a somewhat greater stiffness of the rail support at the rail joint than elsewhere by means of a truss spring washer so that the rail depression will differ only slightly as the wheel rolls along and the evenness and regularity of the rail surface under the load will not vary materially along the track upon application of traffic.

Lack of good fit in the joint bars is a source of some vertical movement between bar and rail, due to tolerances between rail and bar, and between the rails and bars themselves, these contributing to the deflection of the joint. The purpose of my invention is to overcome these tolerances by the action in various ways.

Stiifness of the rail joint as a whole (resistance to deflection as compared with that of the full rail) is an essential property of a good rail joint. 35 Besides providing for absence of play between joint bar and rail I have devised a truss spring washer of arch form to assist in securing a proper fit of the said joint and by its pressure and resilient action, other than mere reinforcing, at the 40 vital parts of the joint bar.

The invention is embodied in the example herein shown and described, the features of novelty being pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a front elevation of the spring wash- Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the spring washer on the line IIII Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the spring washer on the line IIIIII Fig. 1, looking to the right.

Fig. 4 is a central vertical section on the line IVIV Fig. 1, looking to the right.

Fig. 5 is a view in elevation showing my invention as applied to .a rail joint, the spikes of other views omitted.

1936, Serial No. 91,678

(or. sass-en) Fig. 6 is a cross section on the line VI-VI Fig. 5, but on a larger scale, looking to the right and before the spring washer is completely drawn up.

Fig. '7 is a cross section like Fig. 6 showing the spring washer after it is drawn up from a position like that shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 illustrates a cross section like Fig. '7, showing a modified joint plate.

Figs. 9, l0 and 11 are diagrams illustrating the actions and reactions of the bearings when subjected to application of pressures of the car wheels.

In the views the characters I0 and H! designate fractions of two rails of usual cross section showing them in Fig. 5 as laid end to end, they being spaced a little, as usual, to allow for expansion and contraction due to variation in temperature.

The characters H, H, Figs. 6 and 7, and l2, 12 Fig. 8 designate joint bars, sometimes called fish plates. Each of these bars, at the side facing the rail, has its upper and lower edges converging to fit in the converging spaces between the heads and bases of the two rails in wedge fashion but primarily spaced from the web of the rail as shown. The outer faces of said. joint bars are each longitudinally recessed, as shown at 43, such recesses having their upper and lower walls converging, as shown at l3 In Fig. 8 the lower portion of the joint bar is more extended than in Figs. 6 and 7 by reason of a toe at I3 These joint bars are each provided with four bolt holes, as usual.

The character l5 designates the truss spring washer which is made of plate metal, preferably resilient or spring steel in substantially the arch form in face view as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. The upper edge of the said washer is beveled at the middle, as shown at I5 and at its lower edge at the two feet it is beveled as shown at W so as to fit closely, as shown, in the longitudinal recess or cavity of the joint bar. The extent and position of the beveling of the upper and lower edges of the washer is made curved as depicted in section Fig. 2 and is more or less sprung and flattened out when drawn upward and inward by bolts into the recess of the joint bar.

In Fig. 6 the washers are shown as not yet flattened while in Figs. '7 and 8 the fastening nuts have been turned up on the bolts to cause the flattening of the washer in its longitudinal direction.

The spring washers l5 are each provided with two bolt holes l6 and II, the one at the left (in Figs. 1 and 2) being circular while that at the right is ellipsoidal to receive a screw bolt having a 45 thereover.

corresponding cross section near its head to prevent turning of the bolt when a nut is turned onto applied in alternate arrangement, as indicated in the drawing.

V The vertical diameters of the bolt holes in the spring washer should be sufficiently greater than the diameter of the bolts to permit the preliminary insertion of bolt and the subsequent elevation of the washer and its draft into the recess of the joint bar by the turning up of the nut of the bolt so that both a tight top and bottom fit of the joint bar to the rail and a tight top and bottom fit of the spring washer in its seat on the bar are achieved. 7

From the construction shown and described it will be observed that pressure of the car wheels other rail. The joint bar and the spring washer therefore cooperate in keeping the rail heads at the joint alined in a manner nearly approaching that as if the rails at the joint were integral.

Furthermore by reason of the form and the small length of the spring washer as compared with that of a joint bar the resistance to pressure and the transmission of pressure are concentrated where' such functions are most advantageous. In the diagram, Fig. 9, the arrows indicate the direction of the single reaction bearing forgpositive moment. In diagram, Fig. 10, the direction of the arrows indicates doublereaction for positive moment; and in diagram, Fig. 11, the direction of the arrows indicates single reaction bearings for negative moment.

It will be noted that when the truss spring washer is drawn upward and inward onto its seat in the joint bar the rail ends are strongly supported near their meeting terminals. The truss spring washer therefore cooperates with the joint bar to provide a more rigid support for the rail ends and prevent excessive vertical movements of those ends by the passage of loads It also will be noted that the truss washer, by reason of its springing ends replaces the usual helical washer and maintains a constant horizontal tension on the bolts and prevent strain and shearing action on the bolts. An occasional I screwing down of the bolts compensates for wear of the joint bar and rails and tightening of the parts.

The forms of the parts can be changed without departing from the gist of the invention as claimed. 7 7

What I claim is: r

' 1. Means for supporting the meeting ends of railroad rails including a joint bar between the heads and bases thereof, said bar longitudinally recessed in its exterior face, a horizontally bent truss washer of spring metal arched in a vertical longitudinal plane to fit wedgingly and spring vertically in said longitudinal recess, and means for holding said washer tightly in said recess. 7

2. Means for supporting the meeting ends of railroad rails including a joint bar between the heads and bases thereof, said bar provided with a longitudinal recess with converging edge Walls in its exterior face, a truss washer of spring metal arched ina vertical longitudinal plane construct.- ed to wedgingly fit and spring vertically in said longitudinal recess, and means for holding said truss washer in said recess.

3. In means for supporting the meeting ends of railroad rails, a joint bar between the heads and bases thereof, said bar longitudinally recessed in its exterior'face, a horizontally bent truss washer of spring metal arched in a verticalv longitudinal plane to fit wedgingly and spring vertically in said longitudinal recess, said washer being of a length only sufficient to'receive one i for securing and adjusting said washer at each end thereof at opposite sides of and near a plane transverse the rails near the meeting ends thereof.

WILLIAM H. SHARP. 

